Funzionari in divisa: esercito, politica e amministrazione in Tripolitania

The birth of the ministry of Colonies in 1912 put at the center of the debate the issue of the Italian administrative staff operating in Libya. The prevailing positions were essentially two: those who support the idea of establishing a corp of specialized agents, trained in managing the colonial problems; on the other hand, there was a current of thought that believed recruiting hundreds of officials, only trained for the colonies, would be too expensive and useless. However, while this debate was going on in Italy, thousands of officials in uniform were already operating in Libya. The most urgent issue, with regard to those officers who held political and administrative functions, was that relating to their status.